P&W TRITON nuclear engine

[no_way]

surprised this isnt posted yet:<br />http://www.nuclearspace.com/A_PWrussview_FINX.htm<br /><br />Needless to say, NTRs wont obviously make spaceflight cheaper in near future, but they might make human activities beyond cislunar space actually practical.<br /><br />

 

[thermionic]

Right on... It's about time we put some muscle up there. Power to the People! I'm sure that if HairlessPrimateKind lives long enough, we'll look back at usin chemical rockets for interplanetary travel like taking a steam-powered car on the autobahn.<br /><br />I'll have to read that article a few times to take it all in. It's surprisingly candid. /jd

 

[yurkin]

If what that guys saying is true then this is amazing.<br /><br />300MW nuclear reactor, yes MW. It can run idle and produce 50-100kW net electricity that could also be used for high efficiency electric propulsion. For propulsion it can run in nuclear thermal mode and a hybrid nuclear thermal LOX/LH2 chemical engine. This can produce 30,000 lbs thrust. Most amazing is that he says Pratt/Whitney can go from their drawing to an in space working engine for less then billion. <br />And excluding the fuel tanks the whole thing is so small.<br />

 

[mikejz]

The only thing that gets my attention is the fact that the turbopump is located next to the reactor--making servicing impossible. Something to consider if they want to reuse it.

 

[najab]

My guess is that everything aft of the shield is considered 'hot' and isn't meant to be serviced or reused. I suppose robotic repair might be possible though.

 

[blacknebula]

I do have a few questions regarding NTRs.<br /><br />Currently, with Prometheus, engineers are struggling to find a way to manuever the control rods in the reactor. I assume that this problem will have to be solved before an NTR is built? <br /><br />Second, how will the astronauts be shielded from neutron radiation?

 

[mikejz]

Maybe use some of the power generated for a magentic radiation shield.??...........not sure

 

[halman]

no_way,<br /><br />Nice find! This engine seems to incorporate excellent design features for multiple uses. Thrust augmentation using LOX is an exciting innovation. This engine definitely shows promise! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> The secret to peace of mind is a short attention span. </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Second, how will the astronauts be shielded from neutron radiation?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />I've heard proposals involving placing the water tank between the propulsion module and the habitable module. But I don't know whether that would protect from neutron radiation; nuclear physics is not my strong suit. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[nacnud]

It should do, in order to stop fast neutrons efficiently you need them to hit something roughly the same mass as they are. This is because in a collision between two particles the lighter of the two particles ends up with a larger proportion (by mass) of the energy. So the protons in the hydrogen in the water make water a good absorber as every collision takes 50% of the energy from the neutron.<br /><br />Clear as mud?<br /><br />Oh and once the protons are set moving they slow down quickly because they are charged.<br /><br /><br />

 

[mikejz]

Idea: Instead of using LH2 to Power the Nuclear reactor--How about water? Think about it---Launch with LH2 and Lox, pass it through a fuel cell to generate power to allow an Ion thruster to boost payload to a higher earth orbit or escape velocity, then once the reactor is no longer a threat to earth, fire it with water.

 

[crix]

This is great, I'm glad some people have continued doing work on NTR.<br /><br />I was doing some simple calcs with 130kN thrust and a guessed weight of a million kg. A one hour burn would add ~468m/s deltaV to such a craft... is this good enough? Is a million kg insane? I based it off the estimate of 685 metric tons referred to in the article, which sounded kinda ludicrous to me but thought it could be possible if you were bringing down vehicles and large, rigid-bodied habitats.<br /><br />Is the benefit really obvious with the hybrid nuclear-electrical system he was talking about? I mean, why not do an initial two hour burn instead of a one hour NTR burn followed by a sustained NEP propulsion? I love the idea of NEP in other situations but it seems like if you have an NTP system onboard then you should max it out. I'm guessing that 8, large, highpowered Ion-Propulsion drives would only impart about 50N of force on the craft. Is this ballpark right? <br /><br />^^ I'm talking about a Mars mission

 

[najab]

><i>I'm guessing that 8, large, highpowered Ion-Propulsion drives would only impart about 50N of force on the craft. Is this ballpark right?</i><p>About right, yeah. But they can keep it going all the time without using too much propellant.<p>Here's how I'd see things working on a Mars mission: get things rolling with a thrust-augmented NTR burn, switching to pure NTR as the burn progresses. Then shut down the NTR and keep the reactor at 'low-heat' for cruise with a set of ion thrusters going all the time to create a slight gravity field on board.</p></p>